1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flexure absorbing structure for an electric wire protector which can absorb positional misalignment occurring, for example, at insert molding in the electric wire protector which constitutes a part of a battery connecting plate for an electric car.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 7 shows a conventional electric wire protector for protecting a wire harness which is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-28722 of Unexamined Application.
This wire protector 53 is formed of synthetic resin in a shape of trough, and provided with a plurality of notches 56 in parallel along both side walls 54 and an upper wall 55 to impart flexibility to the wire protector in a bending direction.
At front and rear ends of the wire protector 53, are provided fixing pieces 57. The wire protector 53 is bent following a crooked contour of a vehicle body or the like in a state where a wire harness (a plurality of electric wires) is passed through the wire protector 53, and then, fixed by means of the fixing pieces 57 with screws.
However, in the above described conventional structure, although the wire protector 53 can be deflected in the bending direction because of presence of the notches 56, expansion and contraction of the wire protector in a longitudinal direction are extremely poor because the top wall 55 is integral in the longitudinal direction.
FIG. 8 shows a wire protector to be used in a battery connecting plate for an electric car which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 11-120986 of Unexamined Application. This wire protector 61 includes a plurality of electric wires 62 arranged in a desired shape and insert molded into the resin bodies 63.
The electric wires 62 are contained in a central main line part 64 and a plurality of branch line parts 65 which are branched to right and left from the main line part 64. The electric wires 62 in the main line part 64 are bundled into one and guided out to the exterior of the resin body 63. A terminal 66 is press-fitted to ends of the electric wires 62 in each the branch line part 65, and an electrical contact portion 67 of the terminal 66 in a shape of a square plate is exposed to the exterior of the resin body 63. A fuse connecting portion of the terminal 66 is exposed to the interior of a frame-like part 68 of the resin body 63.
A fuse (not shown) is connected to the fuse connecting portion in a later step of assembling, and the electrical contact portion 67 is connected to the electric wires 62 through the fuse. Into the electrical contact portion 67 is inserted one of electrodes 70 of a battery 69 (FIG. 10), while the electric wires 62 are connected to a voltage detector (not shown) in the exterior.
FIG. 9 shows a battery connecting plate 72 which includes a second resin body (resin material) 71 incorporating the above described wire protector 61 (FIG. 8) by insert molding.
The electric wires 62 of the main line part 64 are guided out to the exterior from one end of the resin body 71.
Bus-bars 90 formed of electro-conductive metal in a rectangular shape are overlapped on and connected to the electrical contact portions 67 of the voltage detecting terminals 66 (FIG. 8), and in this state, the insert molding is conducted.
Each of the bus-bars 90 is provided with two holes 73. The electrodes 70 of the batteries 69 (FIG. 10) of male screw type are respectively inserted into the holes 73 and screwed with nuts (not shown) to be connected. The two adjacent batteries 69 are connected in series by means of the bus-bar 90. The electrical contact portion 67 of the aforesaid terminal 66 (FIG. 8) is screwed together with a nut into one of the holes 73 of the bus-bar 90. Near one end of the battery connecting plate 72, is provided a bus-bar 74 having a single hole, and an electric wire (not shown) for power supply is connected to the bus-bar 74.
FIG. 10 shows a state wherein the above described battery connecting plate 72 is being connected to the electrode 70 at one end of the cylindrical battery 69, while another battery connecting plate 75 is being connected to the electrode 76 at the other end of the battery 69.
The battery 69 is contained in a holder 78 having a plurality of round holes 77, and in this state, the battery connecting plates 72, 75 are connected to both the electrodes 70, 76 and screwed with nuts. The holder 78 is fixed to the vehicle body by means of brackets 79 and bolts 80. The above described voltage detecting terminals 66 are arranged on the battery connecting plate 72, and the electric wires 62 are guided out to the exterior from the terminals 66.
However, since the above described conventional wire protector 61 (FIG. 8) is composed of hard resin bodies, when a resin body of the battery connecting plate in FIG. 9 is formed by two-color molding around the wire protector 61, the holes 73 of the bus-bars 90 and the terminals 66 of the wire protector 61 cannot be accurately aligned. Accordingly, there has been a fear that positioning accuracy of the terminals 66 may be deteriorated.
In view of the above, the applicant has proposed, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 12-123802 of unexamined application, a flexure absorbing structure for a wire protector as shown in FIG. 11.
The structure is so constructed that inwardly bent parts 83 in a V-shape are formed in longitudinally offset positions on both side walls 82 of a protector body 81 in a rectangular trough shape, and an opening 85 is formed in a bottom wall 84 of the protector body 81 in an area including both the bent parts 83 enabling the protector body 81 to be longitudinally expanded and contracted.
When the protector body 81 is pulled in directions of arrows x, the bent parts 83 are deflected outward in directions of arrows y to expand the protector body 81. On the other hand, when the protector body 81 is pressed, both the bent parts 83 are compressed to contract the protector body 81.
After the electric wires are arranged in the protector body 81, a cover (not shown) is closed. An obtained protector assembly is insert molded in a resin material as shown in FIG. 9, to complete a battery connecting plate.
However, because the bent parts 83 project into the protector body 81 through which the electric wires are to be passed, in the above described flexure absorbing structure for the wire protector, the electric wires interfere with the bent parts 83 when they are arranged in the protector body 81. Therefore, it has been a problem that workability of arranging the electric wires may be worsened. Moreover, in case where the protector body 81 is compressed to position the voltage detecting terminals when conducting the two-color molding of the resin, in order to form the battery connecting plate as shown in FIG. 9, there has been a risk that the electric wires may be clamped between the bent parts 83 and likely to be deformed or damaged.
Further, there has been a fear that the electric wires may be subjected to resin forming pressure during the two-color molding, and tend to protrude from the opening 85 in the bottom wall 84 of the protector body 81.
In view of the above described problems, it is an object of the invention to provide a flexure absorbing structure for a wire protector which can, of course, reliably correct a longitudinal positional misalignment of the wire protector at two-color molding, and in which electric wires can be easily arranged in a protector body, the electric wires are hardly deformed or damaged when the protector body is compressed, and the electric wires will not protrude from the protector body to the exterior even though they are subjected to resin molding pressure.